Telling African American Civil War Stories, of Soldiers, Civilians, Contrabands, First Days of Freedom, and the Events that led to Freedom

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Remembering Black Nurses in the Civil War

Black Relief workers Washington DC, 1865

On a recent trip to the National Archives, while looking for a Civil War soldier, I saw an interesting notation on an index card. The notation was that the soldier's wife was also applying for her own pension as nurse. This was the first time I had seen such a notation, and this made me curious as to who she was and then the question arose for me--were there more women of color who were nurses who names could be found?

I asked some questions of one of the military archivists who directed me to a ledger that contained several pages of names of nurses who were hired as "contract nurses" in the Civil War.

Seeing the names of these persons was more than exciting, because this is history only mentioned in passing and very few names are known. But I was fortunate to have found the names of these persons long forgotten and to see their roles as Civil War nurses documented.

Cover of Ledger of Civil War Colored Nurses

The ledger is a small one, and it contained only a handful of hospitals that were mentioned in Maryland, Virginia or North Carolina.

Hospitals Reflected in Civil War Ledger

The hospitals mentioned in the front of the ledger were:

Convalescent Hospital - Patterson Park, Baltimore Maryland

Contraband Hospital, Norfolk Virginia

Contraband Small Pox Hospital, New Berne North Carolina

Chesapeake Hospital, Virginia

Contraband Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia

However, other hospitals were actually captured in the ledger, including:

I am fully aware that there are not many photos of these women and women who served as nurses in the Civil War, but I also became curious as to whether or not there are images of any of the hospitals where they served. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few images that did survive.

As a result I was able to find some images of these sites.

Patterson Park Hospital was also known as McKim's Mansion Hospital where several nurses of color worked.

Patterson Park US General Hospital, Baltimore Maryland:

Rosa Caulk

Henretta Grimes

Louisa Warren

Mary Williams

Susan Jane Williams

Moses Arndt

John McDevitt

The Jarvis US General Hospital was a very large facility in Baltimore. There were ten black nurses working under contract at Jarvis. I am wondering if one of the barracks was devoted to black soldiers for there to have been many who were hired at the same time to work there.

Names of black nurses contracted to work at Jarvis US General Hospital

Jarvis US General Hospital - Names of Black Nurses:

Eliza Francis

M. A. Johnson

Anna Richardson

Lizzie Stafford

Elsie Candy

Rachel Malun (?)

Laura Smith

Mary Rudley

Mary Rolan

Susan Smith

When looking at the names of nurses at the Contraband Hospital in Norfolk, I was surprised to see that both

men and women's names appeared on the ledger of contract nurses.

Names of Contract Nurses at the Contraband Hospital Norfolk Virginia

Contraband Hospital - Norfolk, Virginia

Henderson Dukes

Arnachy Jones

Isaac Jones

John Jones

Charlotte Reddick

Isaac Reddick

Phillip Reddick

Robert Reddick

Ross Jacob

Sophia Sample

Martha Savage

Solomon Schirchins (?)

Priscilla Smith

Maggie Wiot

Contraband Hospital (continued)

Susan Dixon

Charlotte M. Furson

Margaret M. Furson

William George

Samuel Green

Martha Harrold

Isaac Holland

Mary James

Anna M. Johnson

Harvey Mark

Julia A. Mark

Matthew Proctor

Marlo Spiva

Isaac Simmons

John Timbrisk

Chas. Wesry

Sara Dix

Maria Holland

Julia Johnson

Sophia Sample

Thomas Morris

There was one hospital whose name was difficult to read. It appeared on the ledger as "Lowenture" Hostpital. However, I dedided to see if I could find the actual name of the hospital and was surprised when I did. It was actually L'Overture Hospital in Alexandria Virginia. This hospital was a contraband hospital named after Toussaint L'Overture, the liberator of Haiti! This may have been the very first hospital named after a person of color in the country.

Roster of first black nurses hired in 1863 and 64 to work at L'Overture US General Hospital

I was even more surprised to find that there has been an archeological project in Alexandria Virginia underway, looking at the history of this hospital.

9 comments:

I'd be interested in anything you had on the Contraband Smallpox Hospital & Nurses in New Bern. Please contact me if you're willing to share info. debra.newtoncarter@gmail.comIn Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

I was very interested to read this post. Recently, I discovered that one of the affiants in a USCT pension file was a woman from Charles City, Virginia who stated that she had seen the pension applicant when he was hospitalized both in Hampton and Norfolk, as I recall. She stated that she was a nurse. I would love to see the full list of names.

I'm doing some research on this area. This is the third time I've tried to reach you. I would like to meet you, are you local to the DC area? I'm a African American Civil War Re-enactor as well as a nurse with over 35 yrs. in the nursing. I am associated with a museum and this is part of my assignment as well this is an area I'm very much interested in. I look forward to meeting or speaking with you.

Hello Dr. Papenfuse, what an honor to have you visit the blog! I think you are quite right about the error. I noticed that the error was based on an historical illustration that had them identified as being one and the same. But upon investigation I see that you are quite correct. I shall update the blog and post an image of both hospitals. Thanks so much!